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Thursday, November 21, 2013

We Got Your Back

Dedicated
to Brother Phoenix, who lit a fire under me.

Yesterday was Transgender Day of
Remembrance, where we gathered in cities, towns, and online to remember our
brothers and sisters in the Trans* community who were brutally murdered this
year. We made a pledge to honor the fallen and work towards a better day where
there is no more innocent blood spilled. It was a beautiful moment of
solidarity across states and across nations.

But such solidarity is rarely
seen throughout the rest of the year.

It has been one hell of a year on
the front, no doubt, more and more states are passing marriage equality, the
Supreme Court ruled in our favor in the DOMA cases, and ENDA passed the Senate for
the first time in its nearly twenty year history. The opposition seems to be on
the run as they lose one battle after another, 2013 seems like it could be the
beginning of the end of our long fight for equality and liberty.

Hold on, not so fast. The
opposition isn’t giving up so easy; they’re just turning their sights on a new
target.

While we’re celebrating our
wedding vows, our brothers and sisters in the Trans community are facing more
fundamental fights, the fight to use the bathroom in peace, the fight to be
able to go to school without fear of harassment, the fight to be recognized as
real human beings who deserve respect. And the opposition is zeroing in on
them.

In California, Governor Brown
signed into law Assembly Bill 1266, which protects the rights of Trans*
students in California public schools, it allows them to participate in
classes, extra-curricular activities, and sports with respect to their gender
identity. The bill has been widely celebrated as the first of its kind to
protect Trans* students in public schools. Naturally, the Right went completely
apeshit.

The Pacific Justice Institute was
the first to strike, spreading false stories about a Trans* student in Colorado
who was allegedly “harassing” other students in the bathroom. The backlash
against the student (known as “Jane Doe”) was harsh and violent, with people openly
calling for her mutilation and threatening to kill her. The school Jane Doe
attends said there had been no harassment. But that didn’t stop PJI from
stating that her very existence was tantamount to harassment.

Privacy for All Students was the
next group to get in on the fight, supposedly a grassroots movement against
Gov. Brown’s bill, the group claims to have gotten enough signatures to
challenge the bill in a ballot vote. As far as what they plan to do to protect
Trans* students if the bill is repealed, they told activist Jeremy Hooper, “Finding
a ‘solution’ is above our pay grade.”

Oh and just in case you forgot
about them, NOM decided to get in on this fight as well, I guess because being
solely against gay marriage isn’t paying the bills anymore.

So what is the LGB community doing
to defend the T in all this? Well sadly it doesn’t seem like much, there doesn’t
seem to be the powerhouse organizations in the corner of our brothers and
sisters in the Trans* community. And the sad part is, that seems almost par for
the course, a lot of mainstream gay rights groups shy away from the Trans*
community, HRC is notorious for throwing Trans* people under the bus when it’s
politically convenient and in 2007, HRC endorsed a version of ENDA which did
not include gender identity protections. I suppose in their minds, half a loaf
was better than no loaf at all.

Well maybe we don’t need them; I’m
here to talk to you, dear reader, not them. You can stand up, you can do something
to help our Trans* brothers and sisters. You don’t need a big checkbook and you
don’t need a congressman in your pocket, you just need yourself and the belief
that they are your brothers and sisters in this fight.

I wasn’t always such an advocate
for the Trans* community, it took some brothers out in Arizona to light a fire
under my ass. It was back in April, I was on assignment with Polari to cover
the fight against Arizona’s bathroom bill, which would have made it a crime for
a Trans* person to use a public restroom. Frankly, I thought we had already
decided that it was a fundamental right to take a piss here in America; I thought
we established that back in 60’s. But I was mistaken.

I talked to a group of Trans*
people who were fighting for their basic right to go when you gotta go. I saw
what the opposition was saying about them, I saw how they were being portrayed
as monsters and criminals, I heard their stories, I reported what was going on
out in Arizona. I went in as a half-crazed journalist and left the story a
fierce fighter, ready to stand tall and strong with our brothers and sisters
unto the Gates of Hell if that’s what it took.

That’s what I’m asking you to do,
don’t perpetrate the divide of our community. Those in the Trans* community are
your brothers and sisters and they need us now. We all remember when the
opposition zeroed in on us, are we going to abandon them now that they’re the
ones being targeted?

You don’t have to move heaven and
earth, just stand with your brothers and sisters, tell them you’re on their
side, tell them we together are united and strong and show them that if we
stand together, no force the opposition can muster will tear us apart and no
force can stop us from being free and equal together.

1 comment:

Awesome post. And so true. The Trans part of LGBT often gets left out of the whole community part and especially the protections we are all fighting for. As a lesbian, I believed it was my duty to become more educated, aware, and more understanding of Trans persons. I didn't really "get it" like most people, but having been in the position where I was led to believe I was sub-par and going to hell, I had to at least do what I could to gain a better understanding.

I'm not as actively involved in any sort of activism anymore, but I definitely support 100% the rights of all persons--the T especially.